Fellas in fine fettle ... damsels in distress

Melbourne, Australia – The 2011 Australian Open was Novak Djokovic’s official coming-out party.

But as wise old sage Roger Federer suggested, after he was shocked in straight sets by the Serb in the semifinals, let’s take a few deep breaths before we proclaim an official changing of the guard.

“They say that very quickly, so … let’s talk in six months again,” Federer said.

He’s right. There rarely is one “Gotcha!” moment when one tennis era turns into the next.

There are flashes here and there, and then it suddenly seems to just be.

Juan Martin del Potro was such a flash in 2009, after he won his first major by defeating Federer in the U.S. Open final.

The Argentine has barely played since, underscoring the perils of crowning a new king in a kingdom where you’re just one faulty swing away from disaster.

The undisputed No. 1, Rafael Nadal, went down with a leg injury in Melbourne that just reminded us once again how his dominance hangs by the sometimes-frayed thread of his health.Andy Murray’s performance Sunday night, in his third major final, tells us he’s still not ready for prime time – and who knows when he will be?

On the plus side, new faces were revealed.

The hottest discovery was Canada’s own Milos Raonic, who qualified, upset two seeded players and stormed to the fourth round.

Monday, Raonic broke into the top 100 at No. 94. And now, he must back it up.

The 20-year-old from Thornhill, Ont. qualified at an ATP tournament in Johannesburg, South Africa over the weekend and faces No. 2 seed Yen-Hsun Lu of Taipei, ranked No. 37, in the first round of the main draw today (and he defeated him handily, the altitude helping his already powerful serve even more).

Raonic was joined in the new faces’ club by 22-year-old Alexandr Dolgopolov, who reached the quarterfinals and has a quirky game all his own. And there was promising 18-year-old Bernard Tomic, who eschews a typical power game for one that relies on court craft.

What’s promising about the new crop is that as hard as Raonic serves, technology seems to have had less of an effect on the men than it has had on the women. There still seems to be room for improvisation.

But it’s far too early to ascribe stardom to any of them.

As an example, we give you the 2007 U.S. Open, ladies’ singles third round – the great Saturday massacre.

In the 3 1/2 years since then, none have come close to claiming a major, or even becoming major forces in the game.

Former No. 1s Ana Ivanovic and Dinara Safina soared, crashed and now are trying to climb the hill again. Both lost in the first round in Australia.

At this point, they’re almost curiosities, although you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who isn’t rooting for them to get back to the top.

Another former No. 1, Jelena Jankovic, arrived proclaiming she was healthy for the first time in years – and lost in the second round to Shuai Peng of China.Serena Williams remains AWOL; sister Venus showed up unfit, rusty, and got injured again.

Current women’s No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki once again failed in her quest to back up that top ranking with a major title (although she did keep her No. 1 ranking by the skin of her teeth). And she did little to quash criticism that her game is too defensive to keep her at the top.

Meanwhile, the match of the tournament featured two relative grande dames.

There was Svetlana Kuznetsova, the talented Russian who has teased with her talent most of her career since she won the U.S. Open at age 19 in 2004. Her opponent was 30-year-old Francesca Schiavone, the late bloomer and reigning French Open champion.

The two battled for 4 hours and 44 minutes in the fourth round, the longest match in Grand Slam history for the ladies. It was a match filled with daring, all-court, fighting tennis, not mindless ball bashing.

In the end, the last woman standing was champion Kim Clijsters, who has won the last two majors despite playing a reduced schedule and says this likely will be her last full season. The finalist was Li Na, soon to be 29, whose personality and humour was a breath of fresh air but who probably is too old (and her knee too fragile) to become a force.So here’s the bottom line, after the first major of the 2011 season.

On a medium- and long-term basis, the men look to be in great shape. New faces are emerging, but the old guard has no intention of going away quietly.

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